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Hey Dakka users!
Over a lot of topics, I've seen people stressing not starting Eldar until the codex possibly comes out later this year... I recently started a new Eldar force, and I've not played the right armies or for long enough to see one of my armies go through a codex change. How will it affect the army? Can I really expect portions of it to be unusable? Or is it simply that some units might not be as effective game wise?

I highly doubt anything will become any more unusable than it is now.

None of the good stuff will get demolished as none of it is really super amazing, except Eldrad. Expect Eldrad to get toned down a wee bit.

Also expect RoW to get nerfed. Farseers will still be awsome due to Divination.

Expect point cost changes for somethings and rule changes for others.

Wraithguard and Wraithlords stand to gain big or lose big. They will either be really awsome or they'll not change by much and still be wallowing on the meh side of the codex.

Wave Serpants will get a price drop most likely.

I can't possibly understand why people are saying to wait. Other then the waste of money by buying the Codex, only to later buy the new one, I'm 99% certain that everything you can possibly buy for an Eldar army will be useable with the new codex. Actually, 100%. None of the models anyone has had for the Dark Angels or Tau armies before their updates were made unplayable, why would Eldar be any different.

Hell, nearly all of the current Eldar Codex can be played completely legally using only models that were bought during 2nd edition back in the 90's. the new Codex will just give you new models to add to the ones that are out right now.

Plus, I'll bet some of the Eldar range will be getting a price hike to accompany the new Codex, or at least in the "annual price hike" in late spring. Why not buy stuff at a lower price right now, if you are going to buy it later?

The only thing that will change for any of the existing range would be rules changes or price changes.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
The only thing that will change for any of the existing range would be rules changes or price changes.

Yeah, that's what I figured, since it doesn't seem that GW would be running a good business if new Codexes actually made models completely unusable. Thanks! Besides, my force is so small and such central models (Guardians, DA, Wave serpents), that I don't see them getting rid of them.

The only unit I would avoid are Swooping Hawks, but just because they really REALLY suck right now. They could be awsome in the new book, but I wouldn't put money in their direction till I was sure.

Well, units don't tend to get completely deleted, except named HQs from time to time. They might remove a unit and introduce a similar one, but you should be fine using the old models as counts-as. The reason people advise waiting is because you really can't know what's going to be worth using in what quantities. If you don't mind using "less than optimal" units or having some of your current collection sit out, there's no reason to wait.

Oh, but there's the possibility of kits getting replaced by new sculpts with better aesthetics and more options. I'd imagine this could be an issue for Eldar since their range is so old. As an example, the Tau are getting new plastic Pathfinders, including several new weapon/drone options that didn't exist before, so converting older metal Pathfinders to use these new options will be kind of a pain.

 AegisGrimm wrote:
I can't possibly understand why people are saying to wait. Other then the waste of money by buying the Codex, only to later buy the new one, I'm 99% certain that everything you can possibly buy for an Eldar army will be useable with the new codex. Actually, 100%. None of the models anyone has had for the Dark Angels or Tau armies before their updates were made unplayable, why would Eldar be any different.

Because all of the Eldar range is being taken off the shelves indicates that the entire range will get re-done. Possibly even to the extent of the Dark Eldar make-over in terms of quality upgrade (although considering the old DE models, this is ging to be a mean feat). This means that for the same money you spend now, two months from now you may get the same amount of models that look twice as good and also have all the options that they can get in the codex. Also, considering the age of the current codex (which is a 3rd edition codex in terms of it's structure, mind you!) do expect models to actually become obsolete. Not en-masse, but one or two specific options and maybe a squad or so.
Starting a new army this close to a complete model range remake is silly. If it'd been a Marine army, where 80% of the current range would be fully compatible and in use with the upcoming codex, then yes, go for it. It's not, though.

Disclaimer: provided the rumours regarding the models are true, and why wouldn't they since the current models were sculpted mostly on the other side of the millenia?

I always cringe when I see "Don't start X until later this year! There's a good chance they'll get redone!"

In the mean time you're stuck with either nothing or worrying about having useless stuff. I'd say it's useless to worry about it. Rumors are rumors until they become facts. If you're really that worried about it just start another side project during your down time. If not...I really doubt core choices are going to change. Just don't go balls deep into the range.

There are certain units for each army that are central that you will always be "safe" taking, even if they're not as effective as they were, they will remain largely unchanged. Things like Tactical squads, Termagants etc. For Eldar I consider these to be:

Guardians
Dire Avengers
War Walkers

I don't see the rules for these changing much at all.

There are certain others that should still be a fairly safe bet with Eldar in particular, because they're so specialised - ruining units could make the entire army useless at particular roles, so the following should still be effective after a new Codex:
Farseers and Warlocks will give you force multiplication
Howling Banshees will be good against small but reasonably well armoured units
Fire Dragons will be ideal anti-armour
Jetbikes will be damned fast and therefore useful for nuisance runs or taking/denying objectives in the late game.

I still won't believe anything stated by rumors until it actually happens. I can't see, for instance, the contents of a box of Dire Avengers or Eldar Guardians changing any more then the new Tau codex changed what is in a box of Firewarriors, or Wraithlord boxes changing any more than Crisis suits.

It's entirely possible that things like Jetbikes will get re-sculpted, but I would be insanely surprised if any core-type units or Aspect sculpts were altered, other than Shining Spears (because they would likely use the frames of said Guardian Jetbikes, if indeed those were to be re-sculpted).

Like I said, I figure most of mine are "safe". Plastic guardians, DA, War Walker and a Wave Serpent, I doubt weapon configs will matter that much. I don't mind having a subpar army for a bit before I get an update, I'm already purely using them as allies for my IG.

I was about to get Eldar but decided to hold off until later. I had other armies I wanted so I settled with more Chaos Marines for my "enemy army" and Space Wolves for my new army.

I am going to wait until I read the new codex whenever it does come out before I get anything further. I did get Eldrad and Jain Zar though. Figure they wont get kicked too hard with the new codex.

The biggest danger with a rules update is to armies that have focused on a single aspect of the codex.

A Jetlock Council backed up by tons of Guardian Jetbikes and Shining Spears, or a Wraithguard army is what is vulnerable to the codex getting updated. Because everything is similar, they have the issue of potentially getting screwed if GW decides to alter how Eldar Jetbike units are or they give Wraith units some dumb special rule.


A varied and balanced force is going to be very resiliant to rules changes, a highly specilized and focused force is not.

If you are buying Aspect Warriors, get the old Jes Goodwin metal ones from EBay, as they are far cheaper and in some cases superior anyway (the original Howling Banshees, for example).

As you said, Guardians, Dire Avengers, Wave Serpents and War Walkers are safe from re-design. I very much doubt Wraithlords, Falcons and Fire Prisms will get redesigned. Jetbikes are almost certain to get redesigned, if anything does. War Walkers might get nerfed rules-wise though.

I think I would be happy if all that got changed for the Eldar was Shuriken Catapult/Cannon ranges, and either better abilities for Shining Spears, or a price drop for what they currently do. I don't worry about all the super-combos that Warlocks' and Farseers' powers can open up, I just like a solidly-playing army.

In fact, if the range on Shuriken catapults (and/or cannons) was upped near to what it used to be in 2nd edition, it would actually be, automatically, quite a large buff to Shining Spears (and Tanks, Vypers, and Guardian jetbikes).

Range on Shuriken weapons will most likely see a buff, RoW will probs be nerfed and hopefully Farseers get some cool new pewpew psychic powers. Aspect Warriors will be changed around a bit.

With regards to new stuff, potentially some new Aspect Warriors, some HQ's and FLYERS! We will almost certainly be getting flyers and/or some anti-air stuff so we can FINALLY be effective against flyers without having to blow points on fortifications.

The two things I don't want to happen is for Eldar to get game-breaking cheese or a fluff retcon. The fluff is fine the way it is and cheese is just a PITA for all involved.